jim henson

Today's Art and Beauty Tuesday is the icon of the Creation of the Animals. I have this icon in my icon corner and it is stunning and unusual as icons go.

From an artistic standpoint, the first thing you notice is the profusion of blue--unusual because icons usually have gold as their background to indicate the subject being in Heaven. In this case, though, God has come down to earth, to create the earth and the animals.

In the upper half of the icon, you see all the wonderful birds and plant life, as well as a divided stream (the Tigris and Euphrates, perhaps)  that indicates the Garden of Eden. (Genesis 2:4)

On the bottom half of the icon, we see the water with the abundant fish rising up in an almost Franciscan way to greet their Creator.  I like the large green eel in the upper middle, the angel fish on the right side and the whale on the left.

The plant life here changes too.  Notice the piece of coral-colored water plant on the bottom left.

 I love the idea that God came down to earth Himself to create and interact with the creatures of the Earth.